THOMAS JEFFERSON 1743 – 1826

When Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, Goochland (now Albemarle) Coun­ty, Virginia, was still frontier country. Pe­ter Jefferson, Tom’s father, was a moder­ately well-to-do farmer and surveyor there. Tom’s mother came from one of the best families of Virginia.

Jefferson was tall, and thin with a freckled face and sandy hair. He had one of the most brilliant minds in American history. Before he was thirty years old he had studied half a dozen languages, law, mathematics, sci­ence, and philosophy. He was a self-taught architect who designed some of the most beautiful homes in the world. He was an inventor. He invented the American sys­tem of money. He was a fine musician.

When he was 26 years old, Jefferson was elected to the Virginia legislature. Surpris­ingly, he was not a good public speaker, so instead of making speeches he wrote many letters and articles. Often they were about the growing trouble between the Colonies and Great Britain. One of his most famous works was “The Rights of America”.

In 1722, he married Martha Skelton. Three years later he was elected to the Continen­tal Congress. Became of his fame as a writ­er, he was appointed to write the Declara­tion of Independence.

During the Revolutionary War, Jefferson was first a member of the Virginia legisla­ture, then governor of the state. He worked hard to pass a law guaranteeing freedom of religion. In was the first law of its kind in America.

After the war Jefferson served as minister to France. Then, when the new Constitu­tion was adopted and Washington was elect­ed President, Jefferson was appointed sec­retary of state.

From the first, Jefferson was afraid that the United States might someday become a dictatorship. He believed with all his heart that the people should, and could, govern themselves. Raised on the frontier, Jeffer­son hoped America would become a nation of farmers needing few laws. He believed only educated citizens could safeguard the new democracy. And so he thought all chil­dren should have to go to school through the third grade, because in Jefferson’s times many people had no schooling of all.

Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804), Washing­ton’s Secretary of the Treasury, loved his country as much as Jefferson did. But he did not agree with Jefferson’s ideas of what made a good government. He believed that the English system, headed by a king or at least a lifetime President, would be best. Each man honestly believed he was right. But Jefferson believed that Hamilton’s ide­as would turn the United States into a dictatorship. And Hamilton thought Jeffer­son’s ideas would end in mob rule.

Jefferson did not, at first, intend to form a political party. But soon he became the leader of the men who agreed with him. They began to be called Republicans. (Years later the Republicans began to call themselves Democrats.) The men who agreed with Ham­ilton became known as Federalists. Nobody planned it, but this was the beginning of the party system in the U.S.

President Washington agreed more often with Hamilton than with Jefferson. At the end of Washington’s first term Jefferson resigned and went back to Virginia.

When Washington refused to serve a third term, John Adams* was elected President and Thomas Jefferson was elected Vice Pres­ident.

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*Adams, John (1735-1826) — second president of the USA(1797-1801).

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Adams belonged to the Federalist party, Jefferson to the Republican party. This mix up happened because the men who wrote the Constitution had not thought about political parties. They planned for the man, who got the most votes to be President and for the man who got the second most votes to be Vice President. Later the Constitution would be changed so that the President and Vice President would always belong to, the same party.

Adams served only one term, then Jeffer­son was elected President. Because he be­lieved the country should be run as cheaply as possible, he cut down on the army and navy. He did not wear handsome uniforms as Washington had done. He did not ride in a big carriage pulled by many horses. Instead he walked or rode horseback.

At this time France claimed most of the vast, unknown land west of the Mississippi River. At New Orleans, France controlled the land on both sides of the river. This meant France could close the river to Amer­ican boats if it wanted to. But this river traffic was very important to American set­tlers went of the Appalachian Mountains. So in 1803 Jefferson tried to buy New Orle­ans from France. To his surprise, Napole­on, the French Emperor, offered to sell the whole Louisiana Territory, from the Mis­sissippi River to the Rocky Mountains.

Jefferson believed that a President had no power except those put by down in the Con­stitution. And nothing in the Constitution said a President could double the size of the U.S. But Jefferson also believed that the future of the U. S. lay in the west. Here was too good a chance for his country to miss. He signed the treaty buying the Lou­isiana Territory. Then he asked Congress for permission to do what he had already done. Some people were angry at Jefferson for doing more than the Constitution said be could. Other said he way trying to make himself emperor of the vast new territory.

About this time there was also trouble with the Barbary pirates, who lived along the northern coast of Africa. For a number of years their warships had been capturing American merchant ships in the Mediterra­nean Sea and holding the crews for ransom. It was cheater to pay than to fight, but Jef­ferson would not take this way out. He sent the tiny U. S. Navy to attack the pirates. After defeating the pirates in several sea battles, the nary finally forced them to let American ships pass through the Mediter­ranean in peace.

In 1804, Jefferson was elected for a second term. France and England were at war again. English warship often captured American merchant ships to keep them from trading with France. To avoid war Jefferson got Con­gress to pass a law forbidding American ships to trade with either England or France. Eng­lish trade however, was big business in the New England states. Merchants began to lose money. After a while Jefferson realized the law was doing his country more harm than good. One of his last acts as President was to ask Congress to repeal the unpopular law.

Jefferson might have been elected again if he had wished. But he was always afraid that if a President served for too long, he might be tempted to become a dictator. Jefferson did not believe that any man could be Presi­dent for more than two terms. Also he had never been really happy as President. So he refused to be elected for a third term. He went back to his life as a planter. Like other southern planters (including George Washington), Jefferson was a slave owner. He was troubled by slavery and in his will he freed his slaves. He did not free them while he was alive because he did not want to be crit­icizing by his slave-owning neigbours.

Jefferson’s service to his country was not yet over. He planned and helped build the University of Virginia, he brought togeth­er the teachers and helped decide what sub­jects should be taught. And he gave advice to later President of the U.S.

Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826. It was exactly 50 years after the Declaration of Independence, which he had written. Jeffer­son wrote the words to go on his gravestone: “Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia”.